Kiuas (Finland)

Formed in the year 2000, these hybrid metallers mix clean vocals with death metal, sprinkled with an amount of heroic power on top. Kiuas’s self-financed pre-Spinefarm releases "The Discipline of Steel" 2002 and "Born Under the Northern Lights" 2003 got rave reviews upon their release, and with those releases’ success the band was briefly signed onto the now defunct Rage of Achilles (UK). After only a short stint of working together, the label had to eventually let their bands go due to financial problems, and Kiuas was cast out among others. RoA released 2004 EP "Winter in June". The salvation came in the form of Spinefarm Records.

So the Kiuas saga continued with their debut album "The Spirit of Ukko", an album paying homage to the Finnish Zeus: Ukko, the mightiest one! Springtime of 2005 saw the release of this melodic, aggressive and graceful debut that, not naming any influences, bore a streak of tantalizing resemblances to some good old metal bands.

After being released in Japan by Universal Music, "The Spirit of Ukko" was carried all the way to the land of the rising sun where Kiuas played their debut gig. After Japan Kiuas toured Finland extensively, and then headed to the studio to record a follower to their debut.

The recordings of “Reformation” were begun at the Sonic Pump Studios in Winter 2006, in Helsinki. Mixed and produced by Sonic Pump’s Nino Laurenne, the album was then mastered at Finnvox by Mika Jussila. Reformation hit the 21st place on the official finnish Top40 chart.

Kiuas´ third full-length album "The New Dark Age" was released on the 12th of March 2008 in Finland and Central Europe. The album hit the 10th place on the official finnish album chart. The album was the highest newcomer of the week. "The New Dark Age" was released on the 12th of May in the UK and the US (Spinefarm US) Japanese (Universal) release follows in July 2008. Kiuas will tour in Britain in September 2008 and in Europe in November 2008.

The song "Of Sacrifice, Loss and Reward" was also released as a SINGLE in Finland (February 20th). The single hit the 1st place on the official finnish single chart.

"The New Dark Age" was recorded and produced by Nino Laurenne at Sonic Pump Studios (Helsinki, Finland) during October 2007. Kiuas used producer Janne Joutsenniemi in the pre-production phase. The album was mixed at Finnvox by Mikko Karmila in December 2007 and mastered at Chartmakers by Svante Forsbäck in January 2008.

So, enjoy this breath of fresh air – or take it hot and sweaty if you like – and turn up the heat. I mean volume!

yeah, Reformation is not a very good album... although "Bleeding Strings" is a great song.

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Subject: Re: Kiuas (Finland) Sun Oct 11, 2009 2:46 pm

Finnish power metallers KIUAS will enter the studio in November to begin recording their fourth full-length album. Guitarist Mikko "Ilmarinen" Salovaara states, "There are about 10 new masterpieces almost completely written, which we are polishing and fine-tuning as I write these words.

He adds, "The album is set to be released in March 2010 in Finland, other areas to be announced. Naturally, this is and has been the reason for not doing gigs for a while, since the writing, arranging and practicing of the songs demands our full focus.

"As to what can you expect: expect nothing and everything! After all, making a KIUAS record is like pouring dragon egg yolk, absinth and Tabasco into Frank Zappa's mouth while his asleep and asking him to write a symphony about the dreams he had when he wakes up... although, ...well anyway... OR, going out with the members of KIUAS: you never know what's gonna happen." (source: blabbermouth.net)